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Mr. Fox

3.49 of 5 stars 3.49 · rating details · 1,368 ratings · 311 reviews

Fairy-tale romances end with a wedding. The fairy tales that don't get more complicated. In this book, celebrated writer Mr. Fox can't stop himself from killing off the heroines of his novels and neither can his wife, Daphne. It's not until Mary, his muse, comes to life and transforms him from author into subject that his story begins to unfold sifferently. Meanwhile, Daph...more

Paperback, 336 pages

Published 2011 by Hamish Hamilton Canada

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Mar 03, 2013 Pippi Bluestocking rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: gender-lit

As seen on The Cynical Bookworm.

I never liked crime fiction. I read from a variety of genres, I even read lots of trashy books too, but I think there isn't one who-dunnit I can like. There are a few reasons for this (one is that I usually figure out the culprit, but I'll shut up 'cause now I'm sounding like a git) but the most important one is that crime fiction trivialises human life in a way I cannot sympathise with. No one cares about the person who died or the people left behind; we only car...more As seen on The Cynical Bookworm.

I never liked crime fiction. I read from a variety of genres, I even read lots of trashy books too, but I think there isn't one who-dunnit I can like. There are a few reasons for this (one is that I usually figure out the culprit, but I'll shut up 'cause now I'm sounding like a git) but the most important one is that crime fiction trivialises human life in a way I cannot sympathise with. No one cares about the person who died or the people left behind; we only care about solving a puzzle, satisfying a perverse need to combine the macabre with the ingenious. And guess what: the victims are usually female.

Oyeyemi hits the nail with this book, giving voice to my annoyance with this hedonistic treatment of dead women, not only in crime fiction but throughout literature. Byronic heroines do literaly little else than dying all the time. Writers, poets, have been women-murderers for centuries, but does it really matter? It's a book, it's all lies after all. "Well," Miss Foxe, the rebellious muse of the book, says, "it does matter". Inspired by the English version of Bluebeard, a fairytale called Mister Fox, she chases the author of dead women, Mr Fox, through a series of oneiric landscapes in which real and fictional blend together, in which selves multiply into dozens of different lives - some of them lived, some of them only dreamt of. But really, what makes the lived more important than the dreamt of?...

We think that we die once, physically, but truth is that death is something that happens to us all the time, throughout the course of our lives. If imaginary women keep getting killed, real, flesh-and-blood women cannot find a way to imagine themselves as subjects, but only as non-subjects, as the Other, as the one that is and should be, well, you know, dead (insert Lacanian quote/reference here). 'Literature' in Mr Fox speaks for a larger kind of death women and other Others, Non-subjects in the modern Symbolic have to suffer. The kind of death they experience again and again, every single day, from the moment they are born.(less)

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Jul 28, 2012 Friederike Knabe rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: uk-lit

Mr. Fox is about the most enchanting and captivating book I have read in quite some time. Helen Oyeyemi is a highly inventive and multi-faceted storyteller. Her characters are both anchored in reality and in the worlds of fantasy and fairy tales. They can be serious or funny and ironic, they can fall in love beyond bounds or hate with a passion, they can be docile and subdued or vicious and violent. Underneath it all are serious issues being addressed despite the playful manner in which the nove...more Mr. Fox is about the most enchanting and captivating book I have read in quite some time. Helen Oyeyemi is a highly inventive and multi-faceted storyteller. Her characters are both anchored in reality and in the worlds of fantasy and fairy tales. They can be serious or funny and ironic, they can fall in love beyond bounds or hate with a passion, they can be docile and subdued or vicious and violent. Underneath it all are serious issues being addressed despite the playful manner in which the novel is written. The stories within this story jump with ease from one level of reality to another and back at the blink of an eye. If there is anything like a plot, it is secondary to the characters and stories they live and/or imagine for themselves and for each other. What is it about? Well, that is difficult to explain without revealing too much. The enjoyment is in the exploring of it bit by bit...

Just a few hints: Remember the story of Bluebeard? The noble man who had a track record of killing his young wives because they were too curious? Until, that is, when he came across one that was the right match for him: she fought back. There is also an ancient, similar story of a Mister Fox... and foxes are important to Oyeyemi's story. With Mr. Fox she has created a modern version of the old fairy tale, adding modern life's complexities through any number of original twists and turns. Her Mr. St. John Fox is a well-known writer who creates stories where, unfortunately, the heroine... well, you get the sense of it. Until a female challenger turns up and everything is up for grabs. To add another layer to the stories, there are three in this union... And yes, there is a subtle delicate structure to the novel, a bit like a jigsaw where all the pieces will fit in the end in some way.

Mr. Fox is a book that will not be great fun for readers who like a linear plot or story lines. The stories within the story lead the reader to places around the world and beyond, personal challenges are issued all the time, and the voices change (or do they?). It is quite a ride, funny, heart-warming and full of surprises. (less)

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May 07, 2012 Judy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Sue

Shelves: 2012-reads, audiobook-e-book, fiction

This book will not be appreciated by everyone, perhaps most people if the 3.47 star average is any indication. (Maybe they weren't carrying around their lucky fox foot charm when they picked it up!) However, I'm the exception because this book's quirkiness tickled my fancy. Mr. Fox consists of multiple stories headlined by foxes or main characters with either fox or wolf in their names. All these stories are strung together by the evolving storyline of Mr. Fox, a writer, and his naughty muse, Ma...more

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Dec 15, 2011 Emilie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 11, fiction, mythic-fiction, shakespeares-sister

imagine you return to your bed, and you find writing covering your bedclothes; winding over every surface from pillowcases to duvet cover. the writing is numbered. there is a note telling you that a new set of the same sheets and duvet cover have been purchased for you in case you dislike the writing and it doesn't wash off. (this image/idea is taken from the book.)

1.oyeyemi is playing with the bluebeard story. the names of the three main characters evoke three versions of the bluebeard tale tha...more

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Mar 05, 2012 Katie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: fairy tale fans, those looking for something smart and different

Recommended to Katie by: amazon

Shelves: fairytales-folklores, 100-books-2012-goal, unreliable-narrators, magical-fabulism-realism-mix

What a mess. In theory, Mr. Fox is right up my alley: playful language, reinterpretations of fairy tales and folklore, and complicated ideas about the nature of story. In execution, it's fairly awful. I didn't care about any of the characters, nor did I understand them. The novel would have worked better as a short story collection, but I would have skipped quite a few of the stories. There were some great sentences scattered here and there, but a few snappy turns of phrase does not make for a g...more

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Nov 15, 2012 Fran rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Mr. Fox: Helen Oyeyemi

Imagine creating a novel whose characters decide their own fate and who main character is so unique that you wonder whether the realities he creates are real or just part of his imagination. Mr. Fox is a story of three interesting people. One Mr. Fox, the second Mary Foxe and finally Fox’s wife Daphne who seems to be the forgotten sole at the start of this novel. As we hear the dialogue between Fox and Mary and their banter we learn that Daphne is hidden away doing her own...more

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Sep 22, 2012 Leonie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I liked reading this, as a collection of interconnected fairy tale-type short stories. Despite what I am going to say, the writing itself seemed smoother and better than in White is for Witching. But I do feel that Oyeyemi badly failed to do what she meant to do and the book I read is very likely a long way away from the one she wanted to write. All this stuff about the novel being a game/battle between Mr Fox and Mary Foxe about how to write stories? I have no idea how to read the book as a deb...more

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Jun 08, 2012 Matt rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really liked this odd, compelling, and disturbing book. There's initially at least some confusion about what you're reading (which I really enjoyed) and how the successive chapters fit together, what is happening, and what it all means, and figuring that out is a crucial part of what the experience of reading this book is about. So I don't mean to ruin that by spelling it out here, but here's my provisional understanding, entered mostly for my own sake, so later I can re-read this review and r...more

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May 20, 2012 Andrew rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What is “it”? Sometimes I think he killed her to show us something, to show us what “it” is. She was my best friend, and she knew almost everything—if she didn’t know she made outrageous guesses. She made me laugh and I made her laugh. When I spoke to my mother I was the funniest, cleverest, most interesting girl alive. Other people’s mothers told them to “be good” or to “take care.” Mine told me to be bad and wicked and not to worry. While waiting for her to phone me at school I’d feel seconds...more What is “it”? Sometimes I think he killed her to show us something, to show us what “it” is. She was my best friend, and she knew almost everything—if she didn’t know she made outrageous guesses. She made me laugh and I made her laugh. When I spoke to my mother I was the funniest, cleverest, most interesting girl alive. Other people’s mothers told them to “be good” or to “take care.” Mine told me to be bad and wicked and not to worry. While waiting for her to phone me at school I’d feel seconds bursting inside me and leaving clouds. That won’t come again—it can’t. I’ll never have that with anyone else. I’ll never even come close.

So. When I say I’ve been visiting my mother, that means I’ve been visiting her grave. I bring her foxgloves; her maiden name was Foxe. At her funeral she was hidden away in a closed casket because she was no longer beautiful. He’d done other things before he stabbed her—no one would tell me what. I suppose I could have insisted on seeing her, if I’d really wanted to.

***

Helen Oyeyemi’s Mr. Fox tells the story of the novelist St. John Fox, his wife Daphne, and his muse-made-flesh, Mary Foxe. St. John’s predilection for killing the heroines of his novels has driven Mary to challenge St. John’s nature, to discern the reasons for his murderous literary actions. As Mary turns St. John and Daphne into narrative subjects in their own right, an unconventional love triangle develops between them and St. John is forced to examine where his true desires rest: with the woman he is married to or the ideal he has conceived.

Mr. Fox is a novel of magical realism with a required reading list. The narratives that Mary pulls St. John into borrow from classic tales and folklore such as Perrault’s Bluebeard and the Brothers Grimm’s Fitcher’s Bird. Sadly, my extensive literary education has somehow overstepped these and so many other tales employed in Oyeyemi’s work. Therefore I come at Mr. Fox from the bottom of a steep hill, having not done any of the homework. Does the novel succeed apart from its influences? I’ll be honest—I’m not entirely sure.

Without the entry-level literary knowledge that seems necessary for this title, Mr. Fox is an uneven read. The shifting perspectives, locations, and overall tone give the title an austere, highly manicured aesthetic, but sacrifice accessibility and depth of character in the process. Removing the elements of magical realism and placing the novel’s psychology at the forefront, Mary Foxe is something akin to a form of insanity shared by St. John and Daphne, revealing both desire and the impulse for self-flagellation; Mary is simultaneously an embodiment of St. John’s desires and a fulcrum for Daphne’s insecurities. Her presence is the catalyst by which St. John and Daphne are forced to re-examine their marriage, their trust, and their love for one another.

The unevenness extends to the writing as well. As previously mentioned, Oyeyemi’s language is delicate and very deliberate. However, some chapters feel more essential than others, with respect to the metaphors at play and narrative momentum. “The Training at Madame de Silentio’s” and “What Happens Next” are captivating and do a great deal to move things along, while “Hide, Seek” and the final chapter “Some Foxes” feel sadly unnecessary.

Having read Mr. Fox without first knowing the details behind its literary inspirations has, undoubtedly, coloured my opinion of this title. The concept—dissecting the needs and desires of a murderous, misogynistic writer—is exciting in and of itself, but without providing an adequate portrait of its trio of protagonists, it falls unfortunately flat. I would like to revisit this title in a few years time, after having read and digested the novel’s source material. It’s very possible that, given the proper pre-novel legwork, the finer details of Oyeyemi’s work will suddenly click. At this moment, however, Mr. Fox is a unique meta-literary exercise that never quite comes together.
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Feb 28, 2012 Jennifer rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary-fiction

Book Description

Considering that I’m still not really sure exactly what was going on, writing this summary shall be a challenge. Let’s see … as best as I can tell, the story is about a writer (Mr. Fox) who is married to a woman named Daphne but is having an affair of sorts with his muse (Mary Foxe), who is slowly taking corporeal form in the real world. But when I tell you that this story is not told in a straightforward way, trust me on that

My Thoughts

The story of this love triangle is told in...more Book Description

Considering that I’m still not really sure exactly what was going on, writing this summary shall be a challenge. Let’s see … as best as I can tell, the story is about a writer (Mr. Fox) who is married to a woman named Daphne but is having an affair of sorts with his muse (Mary Foxe), who is slowly taking corporeal form in the real world. But when I tell you that this story is not told in a straightforward way, trust me on that

My Thoughts

The story of this love triangle is told in a series of short stories, vignettes, fairy tales, letters, and narratives by the three characters and jumbled together in a blender of sorts so that the reader must be on the very tip-top of their game to keep it all straight. It was very A Visit from a Goon Squad-ish but even more confusing. Stories would abruptly end and one of the characters would start talking and half the time I wouldn’t know what was going on.

For instance, there would be a story about Mary Foxe, and I’d be completely unsure if she was a character in a story written by Mr. Fox, one she made up herself, or just a character in the bigger story being told by Helen Oyeyemi. Then characters would appear in fantastical fairy tale-like stories and then show up later as real people in the real world. Getting all this straight was really difficult, and I’m not actually sure I did keep it straight.

To be 100% honest, my main reaction to the book was “WTF??” I found myself thinking this over and over again throughout the book. And when I got to the very end, I remember thinking to myself: “Your entire review should just be WTF?!” As a service to you, I’m struggling to provide a bit more information.

The writing itself isn’t bad. I found myself getting sucked into the various stories that Oyeyemi was telling via Mr. Fox or Mary Foxe or Daphne, but I just couldn’t connect the puzzle pieces together in a satisfying way. Now this could definitely be my fault as a reader. I read this book at night before going to bed, and I realize now this isn’t a book to be read for relaxation or when tired. It requires a bit more commitment from the reader.

In the end, I just didn’t have it in me to go back and try to make the book fit together for me. In fact, I had to go back to Zibilee’s review to get a better understanding of what was going on.

One last thing, this had the most awful ending I’ve read in a book in a long time. I just HATED IT. But at least the book was over.

Recommended For

Readers up for a challenging read, fans of the fractured storytelling form a la A Visit from the Goon Squad. (And hey, if you read this book and “get” it, can you explain it to me?)(less)

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Feb 07, 2012 Megan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 5-stars, fiction

Exactly my cup of tea, but I did not know that when I started reading. The term "experimental fiction" tends to make me flee, and yes, this is a novel constructed of short stories and its filled with allegory and magical realism and ground shifting underneath your feet, BUT I found it immensely accessible, because of its vivid characters, beautiful prose, and complicated thoughts and emotions. This book is a mosaical look at the Bluebeard fairy tale and its variants (I hadn't even thought of Jan...more Exactly my cup of tea, but I did not know that when I started reading. The term "experimental fiction" tends to make me flee, and yes, this is a novel constructed of short stories and its filled with allegory and magical realism and ground shifting underneath your feet, BUT I found it immensely accessible, because of its vivid characters, beautiful prose, and complicated thoughts and emotions. This book is a mosaical look at the Bluebeard fairy tale and its variants (I hadn't even thought of Jane Eyre as Bluebeardesque until the name St. John was used in this book, and I went, OH), but there are so many layers that it's hard to both describe the book or explain, succinctly, how well it succeeded (at least for me).

I had the impression that this was a book of playful silliness: a muse comes to life protesting the violence her creator wreaks upon the women of his books! Certainly, there was playfulness not solely in the beginning of the book but throughout, but in addition, there was a lot of powerful poignancy as well, and a lot of meditation on women as objects of violence, on men as perpetrators of violence, on the the "invisible" strings that lock these roles and practices into place, on love and its dimensions and its aspects and its forms and its masks, on love across all sorts of boundaries and gaps, on societal constructions, on storytelling and sanity, on storytelling as something we do and storytelling as something done to us. Realness.

Examining how stories intersect with violence against women, though, was probably the part that made me pay the most attention. Oyeyemi examines this in various ways, both in the more allegorical stories, in the more realistic stories, and in the exchanges between Mary and St. John, like this one:

"What you're doing is building a horrible kind of logic. People read what you write and they say, 'Yes, he is talking about things that really happen,' and they keep reading, and it makes sense to them. You're explaining things that can't be defended, and the explanations themselves are mad, just bizarre--but you offer them with such confidence. It was because she kept the chain on the door; it was because he needed to let off steam after a hard day's scraping and bowing at work; it was because she was irritating and stupid; it was because she lied to him, made a fool of him; it was because she had to die, she just had to, it made dramatic sense; it was because 'nothing is more poetic than the death of a beautiful woman'; it was because of this, it was because of that. It's obscene to make such things reasonable."

He shrugged. "These are our circumstances. I'm just trying to make sense of them," he said.

Mary was silent.

"Everyone dies." He smiled crookedly. "I doubt it's ever a pleasant experience. So does it really matter how it happens?"

"Yes!" She put a hand on his arm, trying to pass her shock through his skin. "Yes."

(less)

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Jan 22, 2012 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Still puzzling through all the layers and hidden meanings of this book. Its about a writer named Mr. Fox, who's married to a woman named Daphne but who has an imaginary mistress/muse named Mary Foxe. It's very allegorical, and told in a non linear way; plus you're never entirely sure what's "real" and what's just a story, which makes sense because the book seems to be about the power of the written word to create reality. So the stories Mr. Fox (and Mary) write bleed in and out of reality, chara...more

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Nov 23, 2011 Evie rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review was originally posted to Bookish Blog as a part of the blog tour organized by Bronwyn from Penguin Canada

In her latest novel, the acclaimed bestselling author, Helen Oyeyemi, takes us on a magical and utmost bizarre journey into the depths of one's imagination. Mr.Fox is a fascinating and inventive blend of stories, skillfully layered together to create a truly phenomenal work of fiction. Bursting with flavors, charming and thrilling at the same time, beautifully written - it's a no...more This review was originally posted to Bookish Blog as a part of the blog tour organized by Bronwyn from Penguin Canada

In her latest novel, the acclaimed bestselling author, Helen Oyeyemi, takes us on a magical and utmost bizarre journey into the depths of one's imagination. Mr.Fox is a fascinating and inventive blend of stories, skillfully layered together to create a truly phenomenal work of fiction. Bursting with flavors, charming and thrilling at the same time, beautifully written - it's a novel one can't afford to miss out on. You haven't read literature, if you haven't read Helen Oyeyemi's books.

I wasn't sure how to approach writing this review. After finishing Mr.Fox I sat a long time in silence, slightly light-headed and with no clue what to think about it. I still don't know to be honest. I feel like I need to read it again to fully grasp the message that's undoubtedly hidden between the lines. In fact, I think I'd need to re-read it not once, but a couple of times more. There are just so many details, so many nuances that are all to easy to miss, and I feel that I ought to collect them all to get the whole picture. There's so much going on on the pages of Mr.Fox, so many different stories are being told here, so many shifts - in narration, time, even reality! This is a novel that requires 100% of your focus and sponge-like brain to absorb all that.

I won't even try to summarize this novel. There's no way I could do that without giving away too much. And in case of this novel, anything I'd tell you about the plot or characters would be way too much. The complexity of this novel totally overwhelmed me at first, I felt lost and confused. Every time I thought I knew what was going on, there was another shift in the narration, or the characters were all of a sudden someone totally different then before (and I don't mean that their mood changed or they behaved weird, they really turned into different people). Having read the whole book, I understand what was going on now. All the missing pieces are now collected and in the right places. The fog has lifted and there's a clear view ahead. But at the same time, I don't feel that my journey is over, quite the opposite - I want to go back and explore all the places I've previously missed. Now that I know, I desire to know more, to re-read this book and apply my knowledge in all the places that previously confused me. And that, my dear book lovers, makes this book even more wonderful to me. I love books that keep you coming back to them. There aren't many books like that out there and that makes Mr.Fox even more precious.

One thing I definitely need to talk about is Helen Oyeyemi's writing style. If you had the pleasure of reading any of her previous books, you know that we're talking some serious awesomeness here. She's not talented. She's the definition of what talent is. Talent learned its meaning from Helen Oyeyemi. The way this woman takes an insanely difficult subject or idea and then builds a whole fictional world around it, connecting all the dots and leaving no loose ends - it's beyond phenomenal. Every word, every gesture, smile, movement, description - everything is assigned a role to play, a meaning. There's no coincidence in Oyeyemi's writing. I'm tempted to say that she painted a picture with her evocative language, but that wouldn't be 100% correct. It's not a single picture, it's more like a brilliant collage, a picture made of a thousand smaller pictures. Each and every single one of the small pictures tells a powerful and unique story.

This book touched my soul, squeezed my heart, took me on a very emotional ride. I was amused, thrilled and heartbroken, all thanks to one 324-page novel. I'm glad I picked it up, it was absolutely worth it. (less)

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Nov 22, 2011 Vegantrav rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The cast of characters: St. John Fox (his first name is St. John); his wife, Daphne Fox; the mysterious, impish Mary Foxe (yes, Foxe).

These three are more than just the characters, for they are also spinners: spiders weaving a web of tales of their own, weaving even themselves, within the grand story of themselves and their lives together.

The time: the age of fairy tales, the 1930s, the present. Our protagonists do not suffer the restrictions of time and place but live whenever and wherever the...more The cast of characters: St. John Fox (his first name is St. John); his wife, Daphne Fox; the mysterious, impish Mary Foxe (yes, Foxe).

These three are more than just the characters, for they are also spinners: spiders weaving a web of tales of their own, weaving even themselves, within the grand story of themselves and their lives together.

The time: the age of fairy tales, the 1930s, the present. Our protagonists do not suffer the restrictions of time and place but live whenever and wherever the story takes them.

The plot: a love triangle, jealousy, the fuzzy border between reality and imagination, and a contest of storytelling. The contest is never explicitly referenced but only hinted at. The rules are never explained. But it it is clear that our protagonists are doing narrative battle--a battle in the name of love, a battle for the name of love, but the battle seems to be for something much more than love itself: it is a battle for domination. These characters are playing to win.

The battles are often bloody. This is the territory of Reynard, the fabled fox of European lore, and of Bluebeard. Beware your heads, ladies. But the men, the foxes, are not always safe themselves. They, too, suffer. They, too, die.

But all is not death. There is love sought and fought for sans violence. There are happy endings to go with the sad.

Ultimately, this is a tale of love not in all its glory but in all its hardness, its jealousy, its pettiness. And it is a love not only of lovers but of parents and children, and a love that spawns not only jealousy but even hate. And true to reality, love does not always win. And the endings are not always neat and tidy.

In this novel, this story of stories, Helen Oyeyemi demonstrates a charming talent for telling fascinating tales, a fantastic imagination, and a keen insight into human nature. She draws on a rich history of folklore to tell her own original story, which serves as a frame story for the many delightful short stories that themselves shed light on the overarching narrative.

Helen Oyeyemi is a very gifted writer, one of the best new young writers I have encountered in quite some time. (less)

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Mar 18, 2013 Sheri rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, male-female-power-sex-attractivenes

"She was scared right out of her mind. She had to be--to rescue herself. So she quit working to make sense of things--we don't always realize it, but it's hard work we do almost every waking moment, building our thoughts and memories and action around time, things that happened yesterday, and things that are happening right now, and what's coming tomorrow, layering all of that simultaneously and holding it in balance. She cut it out and just kept moving. She was nobody, she was nowhere, doing no...more

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Sep 29, 2012 Paige rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Let's see if I can sum up my thoughts about this book with some clarity...

The writing is good; I liked the general tone and pace.

I was thinking I'd be reading a novel when I saw this at the library, and I thought it would have fairy-tale aspects. The blurb that got me to check it out was "From a prizewinning young writer, a brilliant and inventive story of love, lies, and inspiration." I didn't read much farther than that, because I like to go into works of fiction knowing as little about the pl...more Let's see if I can sum up my thoughts about this book with some clarity...

The writing is good; I liked the general tone and pace.

I was thinking I'd be reading a novel when I saw this at the library, and I thought it would have fairy-tale aspects. The blurb that got me to check it out was "From a prizewinning young writer, a brilliant and inventive story of love, lies, and inspiration." I didn't read much farther than that, because I like to go into works of fiction knowing as little about the plot. as possible. But this isn't really a novel so much as a bunch of short stories and narrative explorations--in other words, plot is not really important, and is barely even present most of the time.

I gave it three stars but it may very well deserve more. I didn't "like" it as much as I found it intriguing. I wasn't really looking for, or ready for, this type of book at the moment--I've got a bunch of things going on at the moment, from planning fundraisers to running a business to large upcoming group presentation, to schoolwork. I just wanted something to unwind with. I opted for fiction this time around because I wanted something sort of light, or charming, or a good story. Those are not really the strengths of this particular work of fiction. So unfortunately it didn't meet my needs/expectations for picking up a book in the first place and my rating has got to partially reflect that. But it is a very interesting work, and it's well written. I would be willing to give it another go--like maybe during winter break or something, when I actual have the mental energy to devote to appreciating what this book DOES have to offer. I did very much enjoy(?), for instance, the examination of (fictionalized & real) violence against women. I didn't really like the abundance of unhealthy relationships and how happiness is pegged as "boring." Speak for yourself, lady. My happy contentedness & I are having a blast over here and I can't remember the last time I was ever bored--it must've been years and years ago if such a time ever existed for me.

Anyway, if you like experimental fiction, magical realism, some confusing and/or mind-bending-esque stuff, I'd recommend it. I can definitely see some people being pissed at spending time on a book like this, and I can see some just loving it. I wish I'd known that it was more along the lines of intertwined choppy kind of short stories; as it was it sort of annoyed me, but I can see myself really having a much better impression of it if I had read it at a different time of year, or just when I had less stuff to do, more attention to spend.(less)

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Dec 01, 2011 Holly rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-reads

Poignant and satisfyingly perplexing. Helen Oyeyemi takes the Bluebeard story and creates a reverse meditation that toys with muses and authorship, marital love and how identities emerge in a long-time relationship, and violence against women in fiction.

"Everyone dies." He smiled crookedly. "I doubt it's ever a pleasant experience. So does it really matter how it happens?"

"Yes!" She put a hand on his arm, trying to pass her shock through his skin. "Yes."

Perhaps I was reading lazily, but I didn't...more

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Nov 10, 2011 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, jamie-challenge, magical-realism

What a twisted story! Lots of shocking surprises that left my jaw on the floor and at times laughing out loud in disbelief. Loved it!! Be warned that it can be confusing with all the twists and turns. At times you're not sure who's voice you're hearing. Other times, you're wondering if all the characters have lost their minds.

It's about a writer, St John Fox and his muse, Mary Foxe, that at times you wonder if she's real or not. His wife Daphne Fox starts to get suspicious and believes Mary is r...more What a twisted story! Lots of shocking surprises that left my jaw on the floor and at times laughing out loud in disbelief. Loved it!! Be warned that it can be confusing with all the twists and turns. At times you're not sure who's voice you're hearing. Other times, you're wondering if all the characters have lost their minds.

It's about a writer, St John Fox and his muse, Mary Foxe, that at times you wonder if she's real or not. His wife Daphne Fox starts to get suspicious and believes Mary is real and that her husband is having an affair. If I was Daphne, I'd be a little worried because John seems to be in love with Mary, real or not. That's a little disturbing and I've always wondered if some writers fall in love with their muse or characters. They can be so perfect, you know? How can a wife or husband compete with that? Except that they're real, not imaginary. Sometimes, readers need to remember that LOL. One of the lines in the book: "It's ridiculous to be so sensitive about the content of fiction. It's not real. I mean, come on." But...when the writer St John says/thinks Mary Foxe came by the other day - the last person on earth I was expecting to see. I'd have tidied up if I'd known she was coming. I'd have combed my hair. I'd have shaved." It makes you question whether Mary is real or not.

Mary wants to change St John's writing habits and they challenge each other to sort of write-off. That's when things get more confusing - the different stories. But it's like a puzzle and with the different stories, you see bits that pertain to the author and his wife and the muse. There are some stories that I wasn't sure were stories - it wasn't clear and I didn't see the connection. This is one of those books that hopefully are more enlightening with each reread.

Oyeyemi's prose at times is beautiful. I love her originality. One of my fav scenes was when Mary woke up to find her pillow and duvet covered in spidery words, tiny but legible. Whole paragraphs that were numbered. Wow... And what they said... you'll have to read the book to find out ;) You're probably wondering how a muse who's not real can wake up covered in words, huh? See? I told you! One tiny warning - there's some violence in this book that can make you cringe. Mr. Fox's habit that Mary is trying to change - where he kills off his heroines.

The book includes a couple of great fox tales too.

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Oct 26, 2011 Neelanjana rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Foxholes, Foxgloves, fox lovers. Whenever I finish one of Helen Oyeyemi's books, I immediately turn back to page one and wander again for hours in the magical language, allusion and literary trickery that she has enchanted me with. This book is the best book of connected short stories disguised as a novel, masquerading as an adult fairy tale I have ever read. Plus, it's really funny at times. At other times, I looked over my shoulder half expecting there to be something with sharp teeth. And som...more

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Dec 01, 2012 Morgan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Calling Mr. Fox a "novel" is a bit of a stretch - interspersed between several beautifully written short stories is indeed a connected narrative; however, the stories themselves are highly diverse. Common themes of love, creativity, and imagination bind them, yet it is often difficult to see exactly how they correspond to the "love triangle" between Mr. Fox, Mrs. Fox, and Mary Foxe. Not being much of a short story reader, I sometimes found myself wanting the story to hurry back to its main chara...more

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Apr 16, 2012 Alex Templeton rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It’s difficult for me to say what this novel is about, exactly. I almost gave up on it a couple of times because it was hard to get a grip on, but I’m glad I stuck with it. I guess I can best describe it by saying that it’s about a man, St. John Fox, his fictional(?) mistress, Mary Fox, and his wife, Daphne Fox. St. John is sorta kinda having an affair with Mary, which Daphne is sorta kinda aware and jealous of, except Mary might not be exactly real. Anyway, the structure of the novel is quite i...more

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Dec 26, 2011 Ellie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, books-about-books, 2011ind-chal200bks

Mr. Fox by Helen Oyeyemi - the opening at least is very confusing but at the same time hilarious with lots of lovely prose. As I settled into it and recognized the flights of fantasy, I was less confused but still delighted by the fairy tale aspect and the general story-telling.

A favorite quote (there are too many to share a complete list!): "All around them people were speaking a language Brown didn't understand; it was like silence with sharp edges in it."

So many beautiful sentences, beautiful...more

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Sep 11, 2012 Venuskitten rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 31, 2012 Jim Coughenour rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: experimental, fiction

Mr Fox is an original & charming book, beautifully written and carefully constructed. Its series of stories, a set of marvelously painted puzzle pieces that don't quite fit together, are graced with moments of magic, grace, merry humor and whisps of genuine darkness. All that — and I still have to say that page by page I kept hoping for and expecting something more, something that would turn this book into the perfect thing it almost is. I was disappointed. Something is still missing for me,...more

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Jan 06, 2012 Catherine Woodman rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Mr. Fox is a modern day Gothic novel--a story that contains both horror and romance. Which is true of the front story, and then there is a retelling of the Bluebeard myth throughout that achieves a multifactorial Gothic tone.

The surface story is that Mr. Fox, an acclaimed novelist and husband to fellow novelist, Daphne Fox, has a muse, Mary Foxe (the names are similar and it is not an accident). She is one of the characters in his books, but she is not two dimensional, at least not by the time w...more

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Dec 21, 2011 Beth rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I chose this book because of the cover. Isn't the cover awesome? I love it! And the author is so beautiful! I knew absolutely nothing about the story except what I read on the inside jacket.

That told me:
the celebrated writer Mr. Fox can't stop himself from killing off the heroines of his novels, and neither can his wife, Daphne. It's not until Mary, his muse, comes to life and transforms him from author into subject that his story begins to unfold differently.

Pretty cool, right?

But I never wo...more

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Jan 24, 2012 Danny rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is a maze of a story. It starts as a competition between an author who's a serial killer in his stories (the women never make it out alive) and a woman who challenges him to change his ways through a variety of tales. This woman is not his wife, but his wife also becomes involved in these stories as each person tries to challenge their ideas of love and relationships and individual humanity.

It helps to know that the story is the author's interpretation of the Bluebeard fairy tale, whi...more

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Apr 21, 2012 Louise rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Hmm this is getting too neurotic/macabre for me... Interesting idea and fairy tale references, but way too many dysfunctional people crammed into one novel.

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Jul 16, 2012 Pear rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, gender, race, western-literature, poc-authors, short-stories

Loved this. I like the driving idea - that women in fiction should not be targeted for often quite violent fridging just because the story needs plot, or the male protagonist needs character development, or whatever. The novel shows that fridging women is not just limited to noir fiction or even fiction in general: violence towards women happens in the real world, in meatspace, and people generally think it is unfortunate but otherwise normal. They are keen to say 'Oh you have no sense of humour...more Loved this. I like the driving idea - that women in fiction should not be targeted for often quite violent fridging just because the story needs plot, or the male protagonist needs character development, or whatever. The novel shows that fridging women is not just limited to noir fiction or even fiction in general: violence towards women happens in the real world, in meatspace, and people generally think it is unfortunate but otherwise normal. They are keen to say 'Oh you have no sense of humour, it's for a laugh, it's for the art. That's all. Stop reading so much into it.'

However, meatspace and the printed page are not always so cleanly separate. This is expressed in the text by the use of a disorientating device: the story has stories within stories. I feel, through their inclusion and function, that there is a flavour of metafiction here.

The novel comprises the main 1930s 'home' story interspersed with several short tales as St John and Mary play a story-game. The short stories are fairly varied across genres; I liked some of them more than others, but I enjoyed having all of them there. They are generally exquisitely sketched, well-told, relatable with elements of the fantastic. Some of them weave in important, subtle things about cultural identity, imperialism, war, gender, and love. Others get you thinking about the conventions of fairy-tales and story-telling.

I am not sure how to feel about the ending: I think St John gets off too lightly. From the first page he is introduced as threatening - he manipulates his wife so she won't complain, he throws a telephone at Mary, he doesn't trouble himself with thinking critically about the women he fridges in his novels. I don't think he really changes or even develops much during the novel, I was glad to mostly leave him during the last part of the 'home' story.

The focus is on Daphne in the last third of the book. When St John describes Daphne, you get the impression of her as the typically insecure and jealous wife. That changes when she gets the chance to narrate. In contrast to St John's smug writerliness, Daphne is insecure, but it doesn't spring from nowhere (or indeed from sexist tropes). It comes from the very real fact that she grew up as a woman in the 1930s, brought up in line with the dominant narrative of what is "proper" for women, i.e. a changing but still quite depressing status quo. She doesn't quite seem to have any female companions that she can really, truly trust without a prick of rivalry present. Any pride in her previous considerable achievements has been crushed by the feelings of shame brought on by dropping out of college. Being married to a successful writer, Daphne considers what she does as merely "hobbies" and never allows herself to think she might also be clever and capable - and St John doesn't seem to trouble himself with trying to find out how she feels and giving her any support.

Instead of continuing to centre her attentions on St John, Mary befriends, supports and encourages Daphne to write her own novel. Mary is the one who uplifts Daphne. That's very important: the process of finding your own identity and talent, and indeed life in general, shouldn't be all about fixing men or receiving validation from them. It should be about female friendship and achievement, finding strength in one another and destroying the idea that you must automatically be rivals for some bloke's attention.

Even though, in the end, Daphne and St John can move forward in love, it's not because the love-triangle has been rightly resolved into a heterowonderful pairing. I think it ends because Daphne really finds herself and Mary feels she's done her duty in encouraging another woman's storytelling. Bother St John!

Also, I like Oyeyemi's prose ever-so much - it is matter-of-fact with poetic edges and truly amusing moments. I enjoy richly purple prose, but Oyeyemi's words evoke so much in such stylish, elegant turns. (less)

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Feb 04, 2012 Shana rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Not as entertaining as I had hoped. The narrative is interrupted by short stories that neither seem to come to any conclusion or completion. They are not obviously tied to the main plot - and the final chapter of the story doesn't quite leave the reader understanding or a sense of finality.

The best story was "My Daughter Is A Racist" - where a young town girl befriends a solider.

This book was listed as "fairy-tale"-like but I did not get that at all. I found that the narrator was difficult to...more

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About Helen Oyeyemi

Helen Oyeyemi is a British novelist and playwright. She was born in Nigeria in 1984 and raised in London. She wrote her widely acclaimed first novel, The Icarus Girl, before her nineteenth birthday; she graduated from Cambridge University in 2006.

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Quotes from Mr. Fox

“And without further argument he unsheathed the sword and cleaved Miss Foxe's head from her neck. He knew what was supposed to happen. He knew that this awkward, whispering creature before him should now transform into a princess - dazzlingly beautiful, free, and made wise by her hardship.

That is not what happened.” — 14 people liked it

“Solitary people, these book lovers. I think it's swell that there are people you don't have to worry about when you don't see them for a long time, you don't have to wonder what they do, how they're getting along with themselves. You just know that they're all right, and probably doing something they like.” — 11 people liked it

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